Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This pdf is a high level summary of the talk on Youtube. It is not a complete transcription of the talk.
Introduction
• We will undertake a chronological analysis.
• However, I will stop to highlight and give some details on certain important groupings, players, alliances etc.
• In understanding this topic it is key that one recognises the importance of:
- Understanding geography;
- Competing political interests of different players.
Main themes
• Ottoman control of Hijaz for hundreds of years and relationship with sharifs;
• Status of the interior of Arabia (Najd) and ensuing wars;
• Union of Aal Su’ud and Aal Ash Sheikh;
• Rise, fall, rise, fall, and rise of Aal Su’ud;
• Foreign interests in Saudi Arabia;
• Internal tensions and the future.
^ Map of what is modern day Saudi Arabia from before the creation of the nation state.
1
Note: There was clear foreign influence acting on both, but that is beyond the remit of this talk, so we proceed on the basis
that at least officially the said persons were governors of the Ottoman Caliphate in Egypt.
• Main areas to concentrate on: Hijaz, Najd, ‘Asir, Al Ahsa.
• Hijaz: Makkah, Madina, Taif, Jeddah. Cosmopolitan, most connected to the rest of the Muslim world throughout
history due to status of holy cities.
• Najd: Central area – mostly desert. Riyadh is in Najd
• Al Ahsa: A town/area in what is today Sharqiyyah (Eastern) province. Commercially very important both
historically as a trade route port and also now as an area where the oil is found. World’s largest oasis and
nominated as a world wonder.
• ‘Asir: Southern SA close to Yemen; not as important as the other three regions but figures in history.
Najd
• Area of tribal factions and desert oases.
• Was politically relatively irrelevant and economically irrelevant as well.
• Never needed to be fully controlled by the Ottomans, though at times their influence extended well went into it
and they did for a time directly hold it, only to withdraw for various reasons, which is relevant to our present
discussion.
• The greatest influence exerted over this area was by the tribe of Bani Khalid who ruled over Al Ahsa.
Ottoman response
• Ottomans were naturally not pleased with these developments. It was the first challenge to their authority over
the Hejaz and the holy cities for 300 years.
• Ordered their man Muhammad Ali Pasha (the wali of Egypt) into Hijaz to respond to the Su’udi takeovers.
• Campaigns were led by Ibrahim Pasha, his son.
• 1807: Ottoman Caliph ordered troops sent, with local tribes who had suffered due to the Su’udi conquests
switching allegiance and assisting the Ottoman-Egyptian army.
• 1811: holy cities retaken.
• Persuaded tribe after tribe to switch allegiance, took town after town, and penetrated deep into Najd. Eventually
in April 1818 came to the capital Dir’iyyah.
• Besieged it until September, when the Su’udis surrendered. Razed it to the ground. Ruler of the Su’udis at that
point was: ‘Abdullah ibn Su’ud ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz ibn Muhammad al Saud (ie: 4th ruler). He was arrested, taken to
Constantinople, and executed. His head was thrown in the Bosphorus River.
• Sulayman ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul wahhab (ie grandson of Al Sheikh) was also executed.
2
All the “muftis” and most prominent national sheikhs have been from the Aal Sheikh, barring one.
• At one stage – 1869-97 – became quite large, extending from Aleppo and Damascus to Basrah, and down to
Oman and ‘Asir.
• Despite efforts to unite Arabian tribes against the Su’ud, they eventually started to lose ground to the Aal Su’ud,
especially after Su’udis came under British patronage.
Arab revolt
• Context: WW1, in which The Ottoman Empire had allied with the Germans, against both Britain and France.
• So in 1916 Britain and France encouraged the Sharif of Mecca (Hussein) to lead a pan Arab revolt against the
Ottomans, and promised him that they would support a unitary state for him.
• Aal Su’ud didn’t participate because they had their eyes on the bigger prize of an Arabian peninsula united under
their rule. So ironically they didn’t directly fight the Ottoman Caliphate directly before its downfall, but their
actions in the preceding two centuries obviously had much to do with weakening the Caliphate.
• The British and French didn’t honour their promises to Hussein to support his pan-Arab project, with Britain
shifting support to Aal Su’ud.
• The Revolt was a blow to the Ottomans and contributed to their downfall.